USA, Mexico sharpen rosters for World Cup soccer

Thursday

May 15, 2014 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2018 at 6:12 PM

One month from the start of the World Cup, the United States’ and Mexico’s teams are taking shape, both skewing younger and more national-based.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann trimmed his roster to 30 on Monday, with veteran forward Eddie Johnson, 30, the biggest name left off the team while 18-year-old attacker Julian Green and 23-year-old striker Aron Johannsson are on it.

Fifteen players from Major League Soccer, the top U.S. league, are still in contention, but only nine players from the older 2010 World Cup squad are candidates to go to Brazil this year.

Squads must be trimmed to 23 by June 2 for the big event, which will kick off June 12.

Mexico also is taking a more youthful approach and relying heavily on its own club-based talent. Coach Miguel Herrera named his final 23, and 16 are from Liga MX, the Mexican equivalent of MLS.

European-based stars like Javier "Chicharito" Hernández of Manchester United and Giovani Dos Santos of Spain’s Villarreal are still headliners, but the team includes five players from longtime power Club América, whom Herrera coached, and four from Club León, which is playing for the Liga MX championship.

For the Americans, Johnson’s exclusion means that the last three players to score the clinching goals in World Cup qualifying won’t make the U.S. team — Steve Ralston in the runup to the 2006 tournament, Conor Casey in the prelude to 2010, and now Johnson.

Johnson co-led the national team with 17 appearances last year and scored five goals, including the winner against Mexico last September, but he has yet to find the back of the net in eight matches in 2014 for D.C. United.

Wingers Brek Shea and Edgar Castillo were other notables cut by Klinsmann, perhaps at the expense of Green and Johannsson.

Green, a reserve for European giant Bayern Munich, has dual citizenship and was won over by Klinsmann’s recruiting pitch, making a late switch from Germany to the United States. The speedy playmaker might have more upside than any other young American, yet he’s been with the team for only one game.

Among Klinsmann’s difficult decisions: Late-blooming goal-scorer Chris Wondolowski or up-and-comer Terrence Boyd at forward; one midfielder from the group of Joe Corona, Brad Davis and Maurice Edu; and one defender out of John Brooks, Michael Parkhurst and DeAndre Yedlin.

Mexico, which will play Ecuador in a tuneup May 31 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, made its tough calls.

Hernández was never in doubt, even though he hasn’t integrated well with El Tri in the past. But the explosive forward has vast international experience against top competition.

Dos Santos, whose jersey sales are top three among Mexican players, was on the bubble. The coaching staff has a love-hate relationship with the creative midfielder, often benched by the national team.

Oribe Peralta is one of several home-based talents who sparked Mexico when its European-based players stalled out. The lethal striker known as El Cepillo scored 11 times in Cup qualifying.

Defender Rafael Márquez will captain the side for a fourth World Cup.

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